Leg #1 ~ Fairhope to Daytona Beach

Following our Shakedown Cruise from Texas to Alabama we set out on our Great Loop Journey. The first leg our our Loop journey was 30 days from Fairhope, Alabama to Daytona Beach. We were on the water 19 days and traveled 867 nautical miles or 998 statute miles.

From Fairhope we traveled down Mobile Bay to Gulf Shores and then picked up the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, GIWW eastward to Port St. Joe, Florida where we spent Memorial Day Weekend and then onward to Apalachicola.

We cut our stay in Apalachicola short as the weather was forecast to degrade in the coming days and we wanted to take advantage of a good weather window to cross the gulf. We departed Apalachicola as the sun was rising then made a fuel stop in Carrabelle before we made the 70 NM run across the upper Gulf of Mexico to Steinhatchee. We were lucky to have a slick calm day for this crossing, filled with plenty of sea life from dolphin, to turtles and plenty of balls of bait.

For many Loopers this crossing is stressful, both in planning and in making the crossing. For us, this crossing will be one of the journey’s positive highlights.

After Steinhatchee we worked down the west coast of Florida to Crystal River, Tarpon Springs, Clearwater, Sarasota, Cabbage Key and to the east side of Ft. Myers. From Ft. Myers we entered the Okeechobee waterway that runs from Florida’s west coast to Lake Okeechobee and then the east coast at Stuart. Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in Florida.

Since we started planning our loop route I have wanted to transverse Florida via the Okeechobee waterway, which includes the Caloosahatchee River from Ft. Myers to Lake Okeechobee and then the St. Lucie River to Stuart.

Lake Okeechobee is known as one of the top bass fishing locations in the country and the center of this competitive world is Roland Martin Marine Center in Clewiston. While staying at Roland Martin we had a front row view to a bass tournament with over 100 boats fishing.

The southern shore of the lake is protected by the Herbert Hoover Dyke, which was built starting in 1930s through to the 1960s as protection for large portions southern Florida from flooding caused by hurricanes. We chose to take this waterway east of Clewiston rather than cutting across the lake as we heard reports of shallows and shoaling in the lake.

Traveling along the southern shore of the lake east we passed through the Point Chosen Swing Bridge, which is the last manually operated swing bridge in the state of Florida and one of only four in the US. After calling the bridge operator on the radio he walks to the center of the bridge and opens the bridge using a bar inserted in the bridge mechanism.

As we cut across the lake we were amazed at the film of green slime from a algae bloom on the lake.

On the east side of Lake Okeechobee, the Port Mayaca lock is the gateway to the St. Lucie River, which connects the lake with the Atlantic ICW in Stuart. On the west side of Stuart we passed through the St. Lucie lock, which was the cleanest and best run lock we have experienced so far on this journey. Before the lock started its 14’ drop, the lock operator handed us 2 clean, coiled lines to hold the boat in place.

After passing through Stuart we entered the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, AIWW and traveled north, first to Vero Beach followed by Eau Gallie, Cocoa Village and finally Daytona Beach.

While in Daytona Beach we went to Titusville and watched a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. The rocket was carrying an Indonesian communications satellite, SATRIA. Thanks to spaceflightnow.com for the live feed of information and the count down to the launch and screenshots below.

While traveling the east and west coast of Florida there are countless “No Wake Zones” with spotty and often times confusing signage. I was not paying attention to one of these signs and as a result we had a brief visit with an officer from Florida’s Wildlife Commission and given a warning.

WakeWatch

Following this experience, I downloaded an app WakeWatch, which has a map of the waterways with detailed description of Minimum Wake zones plus additional route information.

While running from Crystal River to Tarpon Springs our main engine started to run hot at high RPMs. I cleaned some grass out of the strainer however the problem persisted. In Daytona Beach I replaced the water pump impeller and flushed grass from the fuel cooler. Fingers crossed this fixes the problem. In hindsight and after looking at the impeller I should have replaced the impeller earlier. Everyday’s a school day!

Once Odysea II was docked and cleaned up in Daytona, we rented a car to drive to Orlando and then fly back to Texas to partake in our daughter’s wedding in early July. We will be back in late July to start the second leg of our loop journey.